Four Years
by natsuki chere
Summary: She keeps coming while he keeps wondering why.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: DN Angel is not mine.**

**Pairing: Satoshi x Risa.**

**Synopsis: She keeps coming while he keeps wondering why. **

**Word count: 1498 words.**

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><p>Four year.<p>

It's been four years since his sudden disappearance and after all of her efforts this was the only thing she got?

The girl stared intensely at the chief commander who seemed oblivious towards her. She knew that the guy noticed her, yet she couldn't comprehend the reason for his ignorant. And knowing Risa Harada, she wouldn't let things like this slipped easily.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" she said sternly.

With an indifferent expression, Hiwatari Satoshi replied, "I have to read it, or I can't investigate this case."

And the girl's patience came to an end.

"I'm not talking about these reports!" she exclaimed as she took the reports away from him. "I'm talking about _this_, Satoshi-kun!"

As the girl pointed her finger to the untouched food on the table, Satoshi only stared at her silently. Eating was something that he wasn't really accustomed with. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had a proper meal ever since he learned about his curse, about his short life span. He didn't even know whether the curse still plague him even though Krad was no longer with him for years. And so, eating only served as his energy source only when he really needed it.

To think back about it, since when did he allow this noisy girl to enter his apartment— and his life? She's loud, she loved to butt into other people's business, she had no talent in cooking, had a fetish on that good for nothing thief, and above all, she loved to get herself into troubles.

So when did they become this…close?

It's hard for them to talk to each other without having some sort of a fight. Well, not really a fight, because Satoshi tended to be very quiet and indifferent whenever Risa tried to tell him to take a better care of himself. Most of the time, Risa would storm away from him with a non-stop babbling but would come back to him the next day.

Talk about irony.

Last time he met her, the younger Harada was heart-broken, mourning the loss of her love. And he had left soon enough without telling anyone but Niwa Daisuke. After four years, he had the urge to come back to Azumano for the reason he couldn't tell.

Their reunion was unexpected. Since Daisuke told him that the girl had left the town to pursue her dream, he'd let his guard down. Or maybe he was simply tired. Or Risa just had the natural talent in getting herself into troubles. Little did he know that the girl had returned. Four years didn't seem to change her to live like most girls. Risa (as she claimed) was being accused for causing injuries to a man who was actually trying to molest her. He barely had the time to register the ruckus that the girl caused in the police station when she saw him. As his comeback was exposed to her, his hard earned peaceful life had a turn of table.

Harada Risa had once again entered his life.

Now, Satoshi put his hand on his temple, trying hard to unsolve the mysterious existence of the girl in front of him.

She's not a family, that's for sure.

She's not really a friend either.

So…

"Risa," he said, unconscious about the use of the first name basis. "Why are you here?"

"To make sure that you're still alive," she replied almost immediately.

"You're trespassing my apartment."

Ignoring the guy's comment, Risa continued to nag, "When did the last time you eat? You look pale."

"…I always look pale," he retorted, walking towards the fridge and took out a bottle of water.

"Hiwatari Satoshi."

His mind failed to decipher the reason why Niwa used to fall for this girl.

She's stubborn.

She's persistent.

She's cute— ok, _that _one was unnecessary!

She's getting on his nerve.

So why did he let this girl in?

Truthfully, it's not that he's not interested with the girl. In fact, he was attracted to her since the beginning of his mission during the heist of Dark. However, the reality always hurt him. He couldn't own anything precious; just like how much he loved his mother.

Love was a farfetched thing; more like a myth, something that's impossible to be held.

And being a loner for as far as he could remember, he didn't know how to let other people to enter his life. Niwa Daisuke was an exception, but Harada Risa…?

"I'm not _his_ replacement," he once said, making the girl froze with a painful expression. "I'm not Dark, Harada-san. And I'm not going to be his replacement."

"…I know…" she slowly replied after a long silent.

With a cracked smile, she left and wasn't seen for a few days…until now. She's too weird and mysterious and…unpredictable. Wasn't she was the one who declared that she hated him when they're young? So why did she keeps coming back?

"Yesterday," he gave in, gaining a quizzical look on Risa's face. "I ate lunch at 2pm yesterday. Now that you know, please leave this place."

"After that?" she asked, pretending like she didn't hear the last sentence.

"After _what_?"

"Did you eat anything after that?"

Ironically, now he wished that Krad was here. At least that would keep her away from him.

"Hara—"

"Did you, or did you not?"

The blue eyes stared intensely at the brown ones without a blink. Silently, he took a step forward.

Then another step.

Followed by a few others.

Until their faces were only centimeters apart.

"Harada-san…" he said slowly.

The use of slow tone by the young man caused a faint blush to appear on Risa's determined face, "W-what?"

"You…" he continued, making Risa held her breath for God knows why.

As far as she remembered, they were never this close. So when he stood in front of her like _this_, she could almost hear her heartbeat as loud as…er…as loud as Saehara's excited voice upon getting very up to date news!

And when he stared at her like that, she could do nothing but felt mesmerized by those cold, ice blue eyes. They looked very pretty without those glasses. She wondered if this guy realized that he looked very, very handsome without them. Then again, he did say that he didn't really need his glasses. If he didn't have a problem with his sight, then why did he wear it years ago? And when the same blue eyes pierced into hers like this, she couldn't shake away the nervousness she felt.

"W-w-what?" she stammered.

"Your phone is ringing," he said monotonously and took back his reports from her hands.

Risa's face flushed, and she was struggling not to let it showed in front of this guy. She glared daggers to him before frantically searched for her phone. As she answered the call, she used her mind power to tell Satoshi to eat the bento which she made about an hour ago. God knew just how skinny the guy was. For God's sake, he's not even twenty, didn't live in a country with a high rate of famine— or bulimia! What made it so hard for him to eat something? Speaking of eating, what did he feed on to keep alive? Water and sunlight?

Sighing, she closed her phone and stared at the blue haired guy who seemed to get caught up with his work again. Unknown to her, Satoshi was actually studying her every movement.

"I have to go," she said.

Satoshi immediately looked up even before his mind managed to stop him. Trying to cover it up, he just scoffed and flipped the files noisily. He thought that he should say something, yet nothing seemed to come to his mind. The younger Harada was about to open the door when she sensed a presence behind her. When she turned around, her heart almost stopped upon seeing Satoshi's shirt clad chest; only inches apart from her face. Damn, weren't girls supposed to be taller than boys during this age? Why did she feel so much shorter than him?

"You forgot your sweater," he said, handing her the red sweater.

"T-Thanks…" she replied, trying hard not to stammer. "Ano…Satoshi-kun?"

Satoshi looked at her with curious, hinting her to continue.

"Please eat something," she continued with a serious expression. "I really mean it."

And she left, leaving the stunned commander to stand in front of his door step. His tired mind tried to digest the unexplainable feeling he now felt. Since when did Harada Risa become to mature and…so _beautiful_? Had she changed when he was absent? Why didn't he notice it until now?

He ruffled his hair to push the weird thoughts away when he stopped in front of the coffee table; staring at the meal made by the girl.

Well…he did feel a _bit_ hungry…

Besides, how bad could it be to have a bite or two?

~oOo~

The next morning, Commander Hiwatari Satoshi was admitted to the hospital due to food poisoning.

It seemed that four years didn't change Risa's poor skills in cooking.

~end~


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: DN Angel is not mine.**

**Pairing: Satoshi x Risa.**

**Synopsis: No matter how hard they try to avoid each other, their fates seem to intertwine. **

**Word count: 2758 words.**

The place was in a mess.

Her hair wasn't done, half of her dress was on her shoulder while the other one hung loosely on her side and the ceremony was about to start in less than fifteen minutes. All the maids had run away after the young lady of the Harada family burst into her panic mode. Taking a deep breath, she now kind of regretted her action. She didn't think that she could make it on time without making herself looked like she'd run for miles. Pretending like the evening ball was nothing was a suicide. Riku would kill her if she missed her twin's engagement party. Among many things that she loves about her twin, being punch by her super strong hand wasn't one of them. If only Riku was as relaxed as Daisuke.

Yeah…_if only._

With little time left, she finished up with the simplest make up; tied up her hair in a messy yet cute pony tail and ran down the stairs with one hand holding her shoes while the other one grabbed her snow white dress in an attempt to make sure that she wouldn't fell.

Guessed lady luck was still on her side tonight as she arrived miraculously on the same time Riku turned to look for her. She was then introduced to some people who— through Risa's well trained observation— were her candidates of possible future employer. She kept smiling and talked with them with a fake yet adorable smile. Most of them were related with entertainment industry and art; the areas which she had an interest and talent in. This revelation made her glared at her twin. In times like this, she really wished that Dark was still around and stole her away from the crowd. She then grabbed her twin by the arm and the two shied away. The action didn't pass through Daisuke's thief radar. Whenever Riku and Risa had some sort of a fight, he'd instantly notice.

"I'm sorry," she started. "The last time I checked I'm invited to my sister's engagement party, not my job interview."

"This _is _my engagement party— though this kind of party is so not my thing," Riku answered, looking at her dress which was made exclusively by Niwa Emiko. "And so does this fluffy dress," she whispered; fully aware of Emiko's super human hearing.

"Then stop trying to help me to find a job! I can find a new job of my own, Riku. I can stand on my own feet."

The older twin didn't answer. Of course Risa could tell that she's helping her. They could read each others' minds perfectly; as if they shared a same brain. Just like she could tell that Risa had some sort of trouble with her previous jobs— or the fact that Risa was almost late for her party— or the part of Risa which still thinking about that perverted thief after these four years.

"Then why did you quit your last job?" she finally asked her younger twin.

"Do we have to talk about it now?" Risa challenged back.

Being the older one, Riku knew that the fight was meaningless. "Never mind. I'm just nervous. Hey, can you pretend to be me later on and make the speech?"

This time, it was Risa's turn to be the rational one. "Are you going to let Daisuke-kun panicked alone?"

Speaking of the red head, the mentioned guy stood behind the twins, blushing furiously upon eavesdropping their conversation. It's not everyday that he could distinctively hear the two talked about him.

"Hey, Daisuke-kun," Risa called, gaining his attention instantly. "Your tie's crooked."

Being Niwa Daisuke, his typical respond would definitely be immediate panic and trying to redo his tie. Unlucky him, Risa was just teasing.

"It's not funny, Risa," Riku warned while adjusting Daisuke's tie to its original state. "Just get yourself a boyfriend and stop teasing mine."

_Ouch. That hurts,_ she thought. _Didn't she notice that her fiancé was once the host of my crush?_

"But mine is now engaged to Daisuke-kun," she joked, making Daisuke blushed even more.

Riku held out her tongue playfully and went to greet other guests along with Daisuke. Risa did the same, except that she had no one to talk with. Ok, so some people tried to talk with her but the only thing she needed right now was to escape. Seeing all the guests were happy with their dates didn't help either. To think back about it, the last time she willingly attended this kind of occasion was during her school time where Riku had switched place with her. She had always believed that it was the day where the two lovebirds really knew that they belonged to each other.

"_I'm always yours alone," Dark had said affectionately, and took her hand in their endless waltz._

She stared at the floor, suddenly feeling sad upon remembering those words. That night was also the first and the last time Dark had unexpectedly reappeared and danced with her before everything started to fall apart; before the secrets finally revealed; before her first love disappeared; before Satoshi disappeared.

Speaking of the bluenette, she had hoped that he wouldn't come tonight. She didn't dare to meet him face to face after she'd learned about the main cause of his food poisoning. Of course, she'd sent an apology card, together with a vase of snowdrops and a short phone call to show how sorry she was. It's not that she really thought that she's the only person to be blamed. Her cooking skill had improved; Daisuke had confirmed it for her. Maybe Satoshi's bad eating habit was the actual contributor for his condition. Some people just love to over exaggerate things.

"Oi, Harada!" shouted an overly cheerful and energetic Saehara.

When the reporter finally stood in front of him, suspicious looking grinned adorned his now mature feature.

"What?" Risa asked.

Instead of answering her immediately, he put his left hand on her shoulder, while the other hand pointed a thumb. "I always knew there's something between you two!" he exclaimed with his infamous dramatic expression.

"Saehara, I'm Risa. Riku and Daisuke-kun are over there."

"I know!" he said.

"Then why did you say those words for?"'

"Come on, Harada. Stop pretending! My reporter instinct won't fail me! Your dress explains everything!"

She took a quick glance at her dress, "Yeah, I'm wearing a dress that my sister gave me for this party."

"Eh? Didn't he buy it for you?"

"Who's '_he_'?"

The reporter stared skeptically, "Hiwatari, of course."

Risa was silenced. A faint blush appeared for unknown reason. "Has anyone told you that you're an idiot?"

"My ex said that on the day we broke up. Why?"

Risa was undecided whether to slap her forehead or just slap the ignorant guy. "Saehara, why would Hiwatari buy a dress for me?"

"You don't know?" the reporter asked; scandalized.

"How would I?"

He looked around and whispered, "He wears a suit that have a similar design like yours."

"He's _here_?" she blurted. "I have to go."

And so, she walked away as fast as she could; trying not to make her sister, Daisuke, the Niwas and even that Satoshi (if he was here anyway) saw her. But lady luck seemed to have abandoned her now, seeing how hard for her to escape from those annoying people who Riku had introduced to minutes ago. With no other places left to go, her only option was to escape from the balcony, and jumped across toward the other balcony that linked to the study room. It's not that hard. She tried it before, and she saw how Dark did it. All she had to do was to take off her shoes and lift her skirt and jumped to a perfect landing.

Piece of cake— though she hoped that the weird sound she heard just now wasn't the sound of her skirt tearing.

Taking out one of her hairclips from her hair, she unlocked the door and sneaked into the place where she hardly went into. The only people who'd actually spend their times here were her father, his friends and Daisuke (the thief blood of his just couldn't resist to be around some of the old paintings that Harada owned). Putting the thought aside, she was about to go to the exit when she saw a figure stood not far from her; to where her father kept his most valued painting. Her only thought was simple.

"Stay away from the painting, _thief!"_ she warned, using the nearest thing that she could grab— her father fountain pen (she cursed silently)— as a weapon to protect herself in case the thief tried to attack her.

"It's irony seeing you're the one who sneaked into the room like a thief," replied an eerily familiar cold voice.

Hiwatari Satoshi walked towards her, revealing his full torso to the light from the desk lamp. With his bang brushed back, he looked colder, more mature and so different— though she personally preferred his usual hairstyle. And the suit! God, that noisy Saehara was right! The suit really did look like a perfect match of her dress!

"What are you doing in here?" she retorted back, being thankful for the lack of light that hid her blush.

Being typical Hiwatari Satoshi, the guy didn't respond. He just took a glance towards her before resting his gaze on the painting. God, she just hated it when he did that!

"I said, wh—"

"I sensed a presence of a Hikari in this room," the bluenette interjected. "But there's no need to be worried about something from the past."

_Hikari._

Dark mentioned that name before. And so did Daisuke. But none of them really wanted to talk about it to her, and for some unknown reasons, she never really felt like asking for details. All she knew was that it's associated with the Niwas and Dark— and that eerie looking blondie who seems to like to spend his time being grumpy and attacked Dark. Besides, who cares about those kind of things when she had a hot thief dating with her? So when the name suddenly reappeared, her curiosity sparked.

Should she just ask him? Or shouldn't? Maybe it's something that he wasn't fond of; judging by the bitter tone he omitted. It's something that's related with Dark; which also meant that it's related with his once tiresome job to end the famous heists in their town. But now that Dark was no longer around, why would he hold that burdensome feature? Why now? Why didn't he say nor do anything in the past? Or within the four years?

"You should be with your sister. She seems agitated," Satoshi's voice, together with the faint sounds from the crowd interrupted her.

That's when she realized that the chief commander was already walking out of the room. The door closed soon after, and Risa stood there silently; staring at her own reflection from a mirror beside her. Riku had prepared everything for her for the night and what had she done so far?

Sighing, she wore her heels and walked for the door. She knew that she'd hate herself for what she's going to do later.

Damn that cold hearted guy!

~oOo~

"Where have you been?" a nervous looking Riku asked.

Risa bit her lip, "You know…somewhere."

"Never mind. Look at this crowd! Please tell me that everything's going to be just fine!"

"Riku, relax. Everything's going to be fine."

The older twin suddenly hugs her tightly. "I'm glad that you're here, Risa. God, I hate making speech, though it's a short one! Stay close to me. In case I ran away, you can pretend to be me."

Risa giggled and hugged her sister back. She could only smile when she saw Niwa looked restless too. The moment he saw Riku, however, he smiled and the anxiety ceased to exist. The two would live happily ever after, no doubt. For Risa, on the other hand, knew that Riku wouldn't need her support that much anymore. She just hated that fact.

It hurts, but it's not something that she couldn't live with.

~oOo~

She walked out to a gazebo in a garden near the hall, bringing along two glasses of fruit punch. The longer she stayed inside, the more guys would ask her to dance. Besides, she felt the urge to follow a certain cold guy who she saw walking out of the room once the two lovebirds made a toast.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Risa asked once she saw her target, handed him the fruit punch, which he took skeptically.

"Are you going to poison me again?"

"I didn't poison you, you idiot! You're the one who has a weak stomach!" she immediately replied.

Satoshi didn't say anything further, and so did Risa. They just stood silently, letting the awkward situation filled with nothing but…_more awkwardness_.

"I'm not interested in this kind of social gathering," he finally said, answering Risa's previous question.

"Then why did you come in the first place?"

"Because of Niwa."

If Daisuke wasn't engaged with Riku, she'd have thought that the two had a forbidden love story.

"But you're supposed to be with him; _inside_."

The words seemed to catch his attention, making the girl nervous. He studied her for a short while from the corner of his piercing blue eyes before he closed it.

"It reminds me of Father," he said with cold demeanor, giving her zero information about his actual feeling. "He always forced me to attend this kind of gathering when I was young. And it reminds me of that night."

Risa held her breath. This was the first time Satoshi actually said something about _that_ night; the ball night where everything ended. The night where she was told about Satoshi's other half's attempt in killing Dark; Satoshi's attempt in killing himself. The thought itself brought shudders to her body. How long had he carried this burden?

Before she knew it, her hand was already on the sleeve of Satoshi's suit; shocking both Satoshi and herself. Silence filled the awkward air.

'_Now what?'_ Risa mentally scolded herself.

"I…" she trailed off, letting go of the sleeves as fast as she could. "W-where did you buy your suit?"

Ok, that…sounded lame…and stupid!

Satoshi stared at her with an expression that Risa didn't dare to look. Now she really, _really_ felt like she wanted to dig a hole and bury her head in it. She looked at the hall with the hope that someone— or _something_ would save her from this. But she saw no one and the only sounds that she heard was the music from the hall.

"I mean," she started. "Satoshi, would you like to dance with me?" she continued with a smile.

The Hikari stared at the hall silently; thinking. The view made her heart beats faster. Why did he have to look so cool with that stubborn attitude of his? And when he offered his hand to her, Risa's heart almost stopped.

"Only one dance," he said simply, taking her closer to him.

And the two danced silently. Risa just couldn't stop herself from thinking about her dance with Dark four years ago. Like Satoshi, occasion like this would never be the same to her since that night. Unconsciously, she buried her face onto Satoshi's shoulder, sucking in the smell of cologne of the boy who she used to hate years ago. He was right though. In a way, she's using him to make her forget about Dark.

"Harada-san, I have to go," Satoshi said, unconsciously patting Risa's head.

Risa was startled, "But the song—" _ended already_, she finished the thought bitterly. "Yea, of course," she said with another smile.

He was a few feet away from her when he turned, "Harada-san."

"W-what?" she replied.

Hurm…was it just her or this felt oddly like familiar?

"Next time," he said before he paused.

Risa could literally felt her heart pounced against her ribcage in anticipation. It's rare for him to look back whenever they departed.

"Don't forget to remove the price tag before you wear a new dress."

He left soon after, hiding a grin from the girl. Risa's face was now as red as tomatoes. And it turned redder than Daisuke's hair when she found the mentioned price tag.

T-th-that idiot commander! Why didn't he say anything about it earlier?

Her scream could even be heard from the noisy hall. But nobody knew who it belonged to; not even a reporter as good as Saehara.

~end~

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><p><strong>Honestly, I didn't plan to make this. But the thought suddenly came when I was (indirectly) challenged by Katherine Daystar. And it even turned out longer than I planned.<strong>

**It's hard to keep Satoshi's cold character. -_-"**

**As usual, constructive comments are always welcome. ^_^**


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